DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.749#0012
ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION
7
H arvard University, returned to the Troad in 1882 for ten
weeks, and completed his geological studies of the country.
John R. S. Sterrett, Ph.I)., to whose charge the editing of the
inscriptions discovered at Assos had been confided, made, dur-
ing May and June, 1883, a careful search for epigraphical
materials upon the site, while studying also the inscribed
stones previously removed to the port. Mr. John Henry
Haynes, renewing his voluntary services, took a number of
photographs of the antiquities discovered, and of picturesque
features of the city and its vicinity.
During the first three weeks of the second year the exca-
vations were under the charge of Mr. Bacon alone, Mr.
Clarke’s return to Assos having been delayed until the end of
March by the preparation of the First Report. Digging was
recommenced on the Sth of March, 1882, with ten men, a
number gradually increased during the fortnight following to
twenty-five, beginning work at the Street of Tombs.
In the first year the excavations in this part had been
almost entirely restricted to the monuments near the main
gateway. Here were the most important monumental tombs,
but they were of comparatively late date, and their foundations
had necessitated the removal of all earlier remains. Hence no
discoveries of note had been made in the cemetery during 1881,
hut in 1882 and 1883 one hundred and twenty-four unopened
sarcophagi were unearthed, the first of them being found at the
north of the large ornamented sarcophagus (Tomb No. XVI).
Several days in March were so cold that work had to be
suspended. On the fifteenth of the month a storm of snow
and hail drove the workmen from the trenches, and even as
late as the 8th of April the temperature was so low that stand-
ing water in the lowlands of the Troad was covered with ice.
The want of comfortable quarters at Behram during this
inclement season, together with the attractions of the Easter
festival upon the island of Mytilene, caused the Greek labor-
ers to desert the site in a body, and excavation could not be
recommenced until their return on the 17th of April. Dur-
ing this interval, the surveys and measurements were dili-
gently carried on. The entire field of ruins was searched,
foot by foot, and the third block of the sphinxes from the
western front of the temple was found lying half buried in
the earth, face downwards, upon the slope of the Acropolis.
New wheelbarrows were made by carpenters in Molivo, and
the blunted pickaxes were sharpened by a gypsy blacksmith,
who had encamped in the neighboring village of Pasha-Kieui.
When the digging was recommenced, the entire force
was employed upon the terrace before the Stoa. The temple
at the western end of the Agora was thoroughly examined,
and the position of the neighboring streets and pavements
determined sufficiently to enable Mr. Koldewey to begin his
detailed measurements of the Stoa and the adjoining buildings.
The marble pedestal of a statue, with an inscription to the
Emperor Constantine II (a.d. 337—340), was found, during
these investigations, lying buried beneath the debris accumu-
lated in the street upon the north of the temple in the Agora.
A new road was made from the eastern side of the Acropolis
to the port, and the sphinx relief was dragged down upon a
sledge.
Awaiting the advance of the survey, the men were again
removed to the Street of Tombs, where the so-called Larichos
enclosure was thoroughly excavated. The work here resulted
in the discovery of numerous sarcophagi and cinerary urns,
the former containing pottery, glass, strigils, coins, and some
few ornaments of gold and silver.
In the following week, excavations were resumed upon the
Acropolis, where was found the largest of the epistyle reliefs
of the temple—the four centaurs with horses’ fore-legs.
The workmen remained upon the Acropolis until the 13th of
May, the digging being further rewarded by a second block
of the centaur relief, the paw of the acroterion griffin, an
important fragment of the ornamented terra-cotta gutter of
the temple, and an inscription containing an inventory of the
chattels within the building.
On the 1 7th of May, excavations were begun at the east-
ern end of the Agora, the foundations of the Bouleuterion
being laid bare, while the stairways at the south and west
were cleared. A mass of debris was removed from the Greek
cistern on a lower terrace, the existence of which had become
known during the first year.
The Bouleuterion proved to be a construction of much
interest and importance. Upon its plan were discovered sev-
eral inscribed stones, some of which had been built into the
diagonal walls of a late restoration. All of the men could not
be employed upon this spot, and a part were removed to the
front of the Stoa and to the terraces below its retaining walls.
The detailed examination of the long colonnade, the place
of assemblage before the bema, and the ramps and steps lead-
ing to the upper town, was a work of great extent, which
thenceforth received uninterrupted attention for more than a
year, two or three men being always here employed to clear
the pavements, stairways, pedestals and water-courses, and to
aid in the surveys and measurements. The intimate acquaint-
ance thus obtained with the closely-connected group of struc-
tures surrounding the market-place has proved to be one of the
most important results of the investigations.
During the latter days of May and the first week of June
the greater part of the force was engaged at the theatre, the
thorough investigation of which occupied twenty men for
three weeks. The marble columns which supported the
stage, the water-works for draining the enclosure, and both
the vomitoria, were thus discovered, while a considerable
extent of the seats and passages of the auditorium, and of the
encircling stairs and streets outside the structure, were freed
from earth. On the completion of this task, most of the
laborers were again set to work in the Street of Tombs.
Only a few remained within the town, where, on the 10th
of June, they had the good fortune to bring to light the long-
est inscription found at Assos, buried beneath the pavement of
a Christian apse built into the small temple at the western end
of the Agora.
Notwithstanding the heat and stilling dust of July and
August, the excavations were actively carried on, the number
of men being gradually increased to forty-one. The outfit of
the expedition did not furnish picks and wheelbarrows for
more. After the 27th of June this force was directed to the
most extensive task of the undertaking, namely, the thorough
examination of the enormous mass of earth and stones which
had accumulated beneath the terrace of the Agora, between
its retaining wall and the upper seats of the theatre. For
nearly ten weeks, until the 9th of September, the whole atten-
tion of the expedition was directed to this locality, from which
much had been expected. There was, indeed, every proba-
bility that many antique remains would be found in this
enormous heap of rubbish, where all the public records and
works of art which must once have stood upon the Agora
and in the adjoining buildings would naturally have been cast
by pillagers of the city. The experience of all previous
investigators upon ancient sites had shown that considerable
deposits of antiques, especially fragments of sculpture and
inscriptions, existed in the chutes formed by the overthrow of
the smaller monuments adorning such centres of civic life. In
7
H arvard University, returned to the Troad in 1882 for ten
weeks, and completed his geological studies of the country.
John R. S. Sterrett, Ph.I)., to whose charge the editing of the
inscriptions discovered at Assos had been confided, made, dur-
ing May and June, 1883, a careful search for epigraphical
materials upon the site, while studying also the inscribed
stones previously removed to the port. Mr. John Henry
Haynes, renewing his voluntary services, took a number of
photographs of the antiquities discovered, and of picturesque
features of the city and its vicinity.
During the first three weeks of the second year the exca-
vations were under the charge of Mr. Bacon alone, Mr.
Clarke’s return to Assos having been delayed until the end of
March by the preparation of the First Report. Digging was
recommenced on the Sth of March, 1882, with ten men, a
number gradually increased during the fortnight following to
twenty-five, beginning work at the Street of Tombs.
In the first year the excavations in this part had been
almost entirely restricted to the monuments near the main
gateway. Here were the most important monumental tombs,
but they were of comparatively late date, and their foundations
had necessitated the removal of all earlier remains. Hence no
discoveries of note had been made in the cemetery during 1881,
hut in 1882 and 1883 one hundred and twenty-four unopened
sarcophagi were unearthed, the first of them being found at the
north of the large ornamented sarcophagus (Tomb No. XVI).
Several days in March were so cold that work had to be
suspended. On the fifteenth of the month a storm of snow
and hail drove the workmen from the trenches, and even as
late as the 8th of April the temperature was so low that stand-
ing water in the lowlands of the Troad was covered with ice.
The want of comfortable quarters at Behram during this
inclement season, together with the attractions of the Easter
festival upon the island of Mytilene, caused the Greek labor-
ers to desert the site in a body, and excavation could not be
recommenced until their return on the 17th of April. Dur-
ing this interval, the surveys and measurements were dili-
gently carried on. The entire field of ruins was searched,
foot by foot, and the third block of the sphinxes from the
western front of the temple was found lying half buried in
the earth, face downwards, upon the slope of the Acropolis.
New wheelbarrows were made by carpenters in Molivo, and
the blunted pickaxes were sharpened by a gypsy blacksmith,
who had encamped in the neighboring village of Pasha-Kieui.
When the digging was recommenced, the entire force
was employed upon the terrace before the Stoa. The temple
at the western end of the Agora was thoroughly examined,
and the position of the neighboring streets and pavements
determined sufficiently to enable Mr. Koldewey to begin his
detailed measurements of the Stoa and the adjoining buildings.
The marble pedestal of a statue, with an inscription to the
Emperor Constantine II (a.d. 337—340), was found, during
these investigations, lying buried beneath the debris accumu-
lated in the street upon the north of the temple in the Agora.
A new road was made from the eastern side of the Acropolis
to the port, and the sphinx relief was dragged down upon a
sledge.
Awaiting the advance of the survey, the men were again
removed to the Street of Tombs, where the so-called Larichos
enclosure was thoroughly excavated. The work here resulted
in the discovery of numerous sarcophagi and cinerary urns,
the former containing pottery, glass, strigils, coins, and some
few ornaments of gold and silver.
In the following week, excavations were resumed upon the
Acropolis, where was found the largest of the epistyle reliefs
of the temple—the four centaurs with horses’ fore-legs.
The workmen remained upon the Acropolis until the 13th of
May, the digging being further rewarded by a second block
of the centaur relief, the paw of the acroterion griffin, an
important fragment of the ornamented terra-cotta gutter of
the temple, and an inscription containing an inventory of the
chattels within the building.
On the 1 7th of May, excavations were begun at the east-
ern end of the Agora, the foundations of the Bouleuterion
being laid bare, while the stairways at the south and west
were cleared. A mass of debris was removed from the Greek
cistern on a lower terrace, the existence of which had become
known during the first year.
The Bouleuterion proved to be a construction of much
interest and importance. Upon its plan were discovered sev-
eral inscribed stones, some of which had been built into the
diagonal walls of a late restoration. All of the men could not
be employed upon this spot, and a part were removed to the
front of the Stoa and to the terraces below its retaining walls.
The detailed examination of the long colonnade, the place
of assemblage before the bema, and the ramps and steps lead-
ing to the upper town, was a work of great extent, which
thenceforth received uninterrupted attention for more than a
year, two or three men being always here employed to clear
the pavements, stairways, pedestals and water-courses, and to
aid in the surveys and measurements. The intimate acquaint-
ance thus obtained with the closely-connected group of struc-
tures surrounding the market-place has proved to be one of the
most important results of the investigations.
During the latter days of May and the first week of June
the greater part of the force was engaged at the theatre, the
thorough investigation of which occupied twenty men for
three weeks. The marble columns which supported the
stage, the water-works for draining the enclosure, and both
the vomitoria, were thus discovered, while a considerable
extent of the seats and passages of the auditorium, and of the
encircling stairs and streets outside the structure, were freed
from earth. On the completion of this task, most of the
laborers were again set to work in the Street of Tombs.
Only a few remained within the town, where, on the 10th
of June, they had the good fortune to bring to light the long-
est inscription found at Assos, buried beneath the pavement of
a Christian apse built into the small temple at the western end
of the Agora.
Notwithstanding the heat and stilling dust of July and
August, the excavations were actively carried on, the number
of men being gradually increased to forty-one. The outfit of
the expedition did not furnish picks and wheelbarrows for
more. After the 27th of June this force was directed to the
most extensive task of the undertaking, namely, the thorough
examination of the enormous mass of earth and stones which
had accumulated beneath the terrace of the Agora, between
its retaining wall and the upper seats of the theatre. For
nearly ten weeks, until the 9th of September, the whole atten-
tion of the expedition was directed to this locality, from which
much had been expected. There was, indeed, every proba-
bility that many antique remains would be found in this
enormous heap of rubbish, where all the public records and
works of art which must once have stood upon the Agora
and in the adjoining buildings would naturally have been cast
by pillagers of the city. The experience of all previous
investigators upon ancient sites had shown that considerable
deposits of antiques, especially fragments of sculpture and
inscriptions, existed in the chutes formed by the overthrow of
the smaller monuments adorning such centres of civic life. In